Rookie Sees No Reason to Complain

Like many other minor league players, Kent Anderson’s fortunes lay in someone else’s misfortune.

In this case, it was Dick Schofield’s. With Schofield ailing from strained chest muscles, Anderson was called up from Edmonton April 13 in anticipation of Schofield’s stay on the disabled list.

That move to the majors has been the Angels’ good fortune.

Anderson went two for four in his first major league start. Since then, he has gone hitless only five times in 21 starts. He is batting .246, which is nothing to complain about for a shortstop.

And he is playing the kind of defense the Angels need. He has made some great plays, and almost every one of the routine ones. He has only two errors, the second coming Wednesday night, and he has allowed the Angels to breathe a little easier.

“He’s been terrific,” Angel Manager Doug Rader said. “We really had no reason to expect him to play this well. He’s been a delight.”

And his time up has coincided with some good times for the Angels, who have a 15-6 record in games he starts. That includes the 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox Thursday night, a game in which Anderson contributed a single and one particularly nice defensive play on a grounder by Jody Reed.

But Schofield will not be out for long. He came off the disabled list May 6, but injured his groin as he slid into second base Saturday and has missed the past four games.

And when he comes back for good, whither Anderson?

“It’s not my decision whether I’ll be here or sent back to Edmonton when he comes back,” Anderson said. “He’s the everyday shortstop. I’ve been working out at second. Maybe when he needs a day off, or the second baseman needs a day off, I can play. If that’s the role, I’ll do it.”

That seems to be the role the Angels are looking to fill for now, though Rader is not ready to make him their utility infielder yet.

They are having him work with coach Bobby Knoop at second, something Rader is enthusiastic about.

And for Anderson, this is all fine.

“If they want me to go back to Edmonton, I’ll do that,” he said.

In the meantime, he has received a big boost of confidence here in California, far from his Timmonsville, S.C., home and the University of South Carolina--that other USC--where he played his college ball.

“You always wonder how you’ll do when you get up,” said Anderson, who was drafted by the Angels in the fourth round in 1984. “I tried not to let it affect me when I got up, to play like I played in Edmonton . . . or in Timmonsville.”

He might not have to worry about that for a while.

And so far he’s not worrying about much at all. Not even about his salary, which, he said, is about the major league minimum.

“It’s a lot more than I was making before I came up,” he said. “I’m not complaining about that.”